Uni funding drops as students expected to foot bill

Genius who studied in Havant is off to Oxford University with five A and A*s under his belt

THE University of Portsmouth is under more pressure than ever before to attract its maximum capacity of students – to ensure it is not losing money.

John Craven, vice-chancellor, is however confident he will be able to fill all 4,200 places this September when tuition fees almost treble to £8,500.

He made his comments following today’s allocation of teaching and research budgets from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), which has been reduced from £58m to £44m.

While the university’s funding for research has only dipped by £140,000, money towards teaching has plummeted, as student fees will be expected to cover the cost.

John Craven, the university’s vice-chancellor, said: ‘It was what we expected, but we’re confident we will fill all our places or at least get as close as possible to the maximum.

‘Of course we won’t know for certain until August, and from now until then we have a challenge to ensure we get students to apply.’

Highbury College in Portsmouth saw its funding to provide higher education qualifications almost halved – from £824,955 to £464,000. Fareham College’s budget fell from £176,434 to £150,000 and South Downs in Waterlooville saw its funding drop from £375,862 to £334,000.